Argentina's Lionel Messi pulled the world's attention back to the beautiful game by scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Nigeria on Wednesday as the World Cup continued to provide thrills against the backdrop of the Luis Suarez biting controversy.

Nigeria scraped through behind already-qualified Argentina, becoming the first African team to reach the last 16 at this tournament, while Iran's hopes ended in a 3-1 loss to World Cup debutants Bosnia, who enjoyed their first win at the finals.

Messi joined Brazil's Neymar as joint top scorer at the tournament with four goals after his brace against the Super Eagles in Porto Alegre.

Away from the action on the pitch, Luis Suarez's lawyer flew to Rio de Janeiro to present his defence after the Uruguay striker was accused of biting opponent Giorgio Chiellini during the 1-0 win over Italy on Tuesda.

Suarez has twice been banned for biting at club level, in the Netherlands and England, and faces a lengthy suspension if found guilty.

"We're polishing off a defence argument," Alejandro Balbi told local radio in Uruguay, where many people support Suarez and are angry at what they feel is a "manhunt" being orchestrated by media in Europe.

"We don't have any doubts that this has happened because it's Suarez and secondly because Italy was eliminated," added Balbi, who is also a Uruguay FA board member. "There's a lot of pressure from England and Italy."

FIFA said its disciplinary committee would work quickly to investigate the incident, with Uruguay due to play Colombia on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro in the last 16.

Meanwhile, Ghana became embroiled in a row over appearance fees on the eve of their decisive Group G match against Portugal which needed the intervention of President John Mahama.

MESSI DOUBLE

In Porto Alegre, Argentina's Messi lashed in a rebound after three minutes but Nigeria equalised a minute later with a superb finish by Ahmed Musa. But Messi was not to be outdone and curled in a brilliant 20-metre freekick in first-half stoppage time.

Musa levelled again with a clever finish two minutes after the restart but Argentina, who were assured of qualification before kickoff, got a fortunate third eight minutes later when a corner bounced in off the knee of Marcos Rojo.

Argentina finished top of Group F with a maximum nine points, followed by Nigeria (4), Bosnia (3) and Iran (1).

Bosnia, already eliminated after two losses in their first appearance at a major tournament since independence,